The company reported revenue of $945 million, up from $876 million a year ago and $905 million in Q3, and ahead of the Street at $935 million. Even more impressively, Netflix reported a profit of 13 cents a share, well ahead of the Street consensus forecast which called for a loss of 12 cents a share.

For Q1, the company sees profits ranging from break-even to 23 cents a share; consensus had called for a loss of 8 cents.

The company had 2.05 million net streaming subscriber adds domestically in the quarter, bringing the total to 27.15 million. International streaming subs rose 1.81 million to 6.12 million. Domestic DVD subs fell 380,000 to 8.22 million.

For Q1, the company sees domestic streaming subs increasing to a range of 28.5 million to 29.2 million, with 6.6-7.3 million international subs, and 7.6-8.05 DVD subs.

"Our holiday season was particularly strong, driven by consumers buying new electronic devices, including tablets and smart TVs," CEO Reed Hastings said in a letter to shareholders. "Both voluntary and involuntary retention improved in Q4. The increase in involuntary retention was due to improvements in how we process payments and recover those members on payment hold. We believe the gains in voluntary retention stemmed from steady improvements in service and content relative to the broad array of video choices available to consumers, as shown by the continued growth in our median hours viewed per member."

The company also noted in the letter that it is considering taking advantage of current low interest rates to refinance its $200 million in outstanding notes and to raise additional cash through new debt financing.

Meanwhile, the company noted that it has "no further news" about the intentions of 10% holder Carl Icahn, but that Netflix has "had constructive conversations with him about building a more valuable company."